Ship Righted?

We imagine if the world-travelin’ YF logs into the web and checks the standings, he’ll be surprised, if not shocked, to find the Red Sox closing within 5 of the Yankees in the loss column (pending Derek “I hope I have my swing-and-miss sinker going” Lowe’s start later today). The Yankees have hit hard times, losing 6 of 7, the Sox have finally found their bearings, winning 10 of 12 and 4 in a row. It’s a total surprise to this poster, at least. Making up one game a week has been supplanted by make up no games for 5 weeks then make up 5 in one. The Sox were underachieving, we have no reservations about that, but right now the pendulum has swung back, and they seem to be just a bit on the overachieving side. If they can win tonight, keep the streak going into Toronto, the last month could take on ’78 proportions, at least on the surface. The difference is that the loser of any such battle will still have a shot at the playoffs.

And just what is it about trading great shortstops that frees teams up to achieve? The Mariners, the Rangers, and now the Sox have all jumped ahead following valuable shipments out of town. There’s no science to it.